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Bluffton hearts & darts

Posted: December 30, 2012 - 1:12am

Savannah

RING IN THE NEW YEAR

Hearts ... to the beginning of a New Year filled with opportunity, optimism and good fortune.

For a lot of folks, 2013 will signal a new beginning or a chance for a new beginning. People make resolutions to loss weight, exercise more, eat healthier, stop smoking, save money and plenty of others. Resolutions run the gamut and they should.

One of our resolutions at Bluffton Today is to continue to be the local source for news in Bluffton. Another is for our year to be just as successful and even more successful than 2012 was for all of us.

We know how the economy is still in recovery, but we also hope for good financial news in 2013.

The New Year is full of possibilities. Take advantage of them if you can.

VIOLENCE UNCONCERTING AND DISAPPOINTING

Darts ... to all the violence that seemed to especially occur in the last month of the year.

Besides the horrific shooting deaths in Newtown, Conn., a little more than two weeks ago, Chicago reported more homicides than ever with 500 this year and every time we looked, a gunman was loose somewhere. Not to mention the sick person who on Christmas Eve shot and killed firefighters in New York who were battling a blaze.

While we certainly don’t know what the answer is, we pray for safety across the country and continue to send our thoughts to those in Newtown who celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah and will mark the New Year without a loved one.

We are grateful that such violence is not common in the Lowcountry, but we also don’t take our quality of life for granted and know that it could change in an instant.

U.S. 278 CONSTRUCTION LOOKS GOOD

Hearts ... to the progress after one year on the widening of the stretch on U.S. 278 that many, many motorists use every day to get from the Beaufort-Jasper line to Hilton Head Island.

Traffic this year seemed to flow better than last right before Christmas and especially the day after as weary travelers braved the rain to hit the outlet mall and other retailers for bargains.

One year down and one to go on the about 4.5-mile stretch of U.S. 278 where work is under way.

We can tolerate a little bit of inconvenience if we know the end is in sight. Even the orange barrels looked nicer this year.

SOCIAL MEDIA AS COMMUNICATION

Darts ... to the fact that some are using social media like Facebook and Twitter instead of talking to friends and relatives.

While we have nothing against those forms of communication, we think some things need to be communicated a bit more personal.

Finding out about a life event or that someone died on Facebook is at times unsettling.

We still enjoy using the phone and actually talking with people and not just emailing, texting or posting what we know when we know it.

Call us old-fashioned, but there is a time and a place for all forms of communication.

CONVERSATION ABOUT GAS TAX NEEDED

Hearts ... to a push for an increase in South Carolina’s gas tax.

Yes, we know this sounds a little strange coming for us as we always cheer that we have the best/lowest gasoline prices around. But we also know how important it is to improve and maintain our roadways. That’s why we support the S.C. Alliance to Fix Our Roads’ push to increase the tax that the group says is needed to fund nearly $50 billion in road construction and repairs in the next 20 years.

In the meantime, Gov. Nikki Haley has said she is opposed to increasing the gas tax. Haley’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes using $14.3 million of general fund money to pay for things the gas tax normally funds, freeing up that gas tax money to pay for road improvements.

South Carolina’s 16-cents-a-gallon gas tax is the third-lowest in the country.

We are not sure where the state will end up on this issue, but do applaud the conversation.

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